Chiropteran World
by The Threat
Summary: After their ordeal in 'This Still Earth', our heroes find themselves in a world that is, and at the same time isn't familiar to one of them.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: none of the characters used here are mine.

Note: I'm posting this here since there is no separate category for the original "Blood The Last Vampire" animated movie.

* * *

Our ship was traveling through that colorless and shapeless tunnel that we always travel through. While we were going, I was sitting in my seat, looking at my two companions. Saya, the short, young-looking girl of our group, was looking at her sword, checking it for the slightest dents. This was funny to look at. She had been in a fight with a giant fly, which has made scratches on her face, which still haven't healed (I have seen her wounds heal faster than this), and with her sailor-like outfit being torn here and there, I could see some scratches on other parts of her body as well, but she cared more about the state of her sword than anything else. Said fight, our young magician, Merlin, was talking about to our pilot, the robot-man Murphy, who was too busy chasing ships while we were fighting monsters. In a way it was a pity. Murphy was made mostly out of metal. I could imagine him being able to survive any attack. Too bad our enemy had decided he should amputate his legs and his left hand, so he can't do anything more than be a pilot to our ship.  
While Merlin told Murphy everything, Murphy looked at his instruments.  
"It looks like we'll have to return to Artemis Fowl's world." he said.  
"Return?" Merlin questioned, "Why?"  
"We are running out of fuel." Murphy answered, "Fowl's world is the only world I know where I can find more of it."  
Saya shrugged, "I'll be needing a blacksmith for my sword anyway."  
"Hang on, we can't just return to his world!" Merlin protested.  
Saya and Murphy looked at him.  
"You've seen what other worlds are like." he said, "You've seen what Smith's Army is capable of. If we return to Artemis Fowl's world now, another world may have been conquered."  
"We don't have a choice." Murphy said.  
The entire ship fell silent, except for the noise the ship usually makes.  
"Maybe we do." Saya suggested, "If you drop us off on the next world, you can let us take care of the problem there, while you go back and get a refill."  
Murphy needed no time to think this over, "Sounds like a plan. Hold on."  
Having said that, Murphy pressed a few buttons on a different console. When he was done, he pulled something out of the console, which he showed us. I was shocked to see it, as I recognized it immediately. A small, gray, electronic box, with a digital clock, which had started counting down from twenty-four hours. It was Quinn's timer.  
"The portal-machine?" Merlin recognized it too.  
"Just a precaution." Murphy said, "If I don't return to pick you three up in twenty-four hours, I want you to activate this, and it will automatically take you to Artemis Fowl's world."  
Merlin scoffed, "What could go wrong?"  
"After being chased by Cylons, I don't want to leave it all to chance." Murphy said.  
"Better to be careful, than careless." Saya said.  
"I suppose you're ri..." Merlin stopped as he realized something, "Wait. Saya, did you just tell a joke?"  
Saya said nothing. She just stared in front of her. Besides Murphy, there was only the windshield, where we could see the space between the worlds we travel.


	2. Chapter 2

As had been the usual routine, a portal appears somewhere in space, and we find ourselves floating above the Earth, and Murphy does a quick scan of the radio signals.  
"Anything unusual?" Merlin asks him.  
"No." Murphy replies, though he couldn't hide his concern.  
Merlin is surprised by how he sounded, "That's good, isn't it?"  
"That can mean one of two things." Murphy replied, "Our enemy isn't here, or it's working its way through this world covertly."  
"So they may be here, but we wouldn't know it unless we take a closer look." Saya said.  
"Exactly." Murphy said.  
"What do you say, Saya?" Merlin asked, "We should take a closer look?"  
Saya shrugged, "You wanted us to continue with our quest so badly, so it's your decission."  
Merlin smiled, "We'll take it."  
"Are you sure?" Murphy asked, "If they're here, but the world isn't aware of it, they may do the unthinkable, just to keep their presence a secret."  
Merlin scoffed, "I know all about keeping secrets. They don't sound that scary."  
Saya rolled her eyes. And in a way, I agreed with her. Before, we always had some certainty that we'd encounter Smith's Army in whatever world we entered. But here, we weren't as sure. It was that uncertainty that scared me. Maybe, in Saya's mind, it should have scared Merlin as well. But being the usual happy-go-lucky person that he is, he wouldn't let anything scare him. I wondered what it was that I wished I had. Saya's courage, or Merlin's stupidity.

We landed on the planet, I took the portal-machine and put it in one of my pockets. With that, I left the ship, as did Saya and Merlin. As soon as we were out, I could see where we landed. We were on top of a hill, close to a city. But even as I looked at the city, there was something wrong with it. I saw buildings, I heard the slightly muted sounds of engines (they must have sounded that quiet over this distance), but there was something missing. I couldn't think of what at first.  
"See you in twenty-four hours, Murphy." Merlin said, just before the ship's door shut, and it took off.  
I saw it fly up into the sky, as high as Murphy must have thought it needed to go, then fired up its engines and shot itself into the sky.  
"All right." Merlin said, "We're here on a mission, so let's get to it."  
I raised my arms, signaling him that I had no idea where to go.  
"We can follow that stone road." Merlin pointed at something, "It leads down.  
I saw what he was pointing at. He must have meant we should take the asphalted road. Of course, he would have to know what asphalt is before he could say that. I shrugged, and started toward it. I looked at Saya, see what she was doing. To my surprise, she wasn't doing anything. She just stood there, eyes squinted, not moving a muscle.  
Merlin must have noticed it too, because he asked her, "What's wrong?"  
"I'm... not sure." Saya explained, "There's something about this world. Something in the air. Something... familiar."  
Merlin widened his eyes, "Familiar? You think we're in your world?"  
Saya said nothing. She started toward the road that Merlin pointed at, and followed it down. He looked at me, but I just shrugged and followed her example. I didn't look back, but the crunching of the dry grass told me Merlin came after us.

Walking down the road, Saya didn't say anything. Whatever it was that bothered her, she didn't feel like sharing it. And since I couldn't talk, I couldn't ask her about it. Still, despite the two of us not talking, that wouldn't stop Merlin from trying.  
"So what was it like to be a fly?" Merlin asked me.  
I looked at him. Why would he bring that up?  
"It must have been weird, wasn't it?" he asked me, "To have a head that's not yours. Or to suddenly have wings... in fact, were you the fly, or were you the man? Or were you both at once?"  
If he was hoping I could at least answer his yes/no questions with a nod or a shake, why did he ask so many at once?  
"Either way, it must not have been a very pleasant experience." he continued, "Or was it?"  
I looked away as I shook my head. I had too many headaches as a fly-headed human, and was too confused about the situation as a human-headed fly.  
"I can imagine." Merlin said, "As a man, you were powerless to stop yourself from killing that woman."  
I looked at Merlin, brows raised.  
"I mean, I know she was a Cylon, but she looked so much like an actual person." he explained, "I would have hesitated to kill her."  
He scoffed, "I even had to kill someone I once thought of as a friend. And though I knew she would have killed me if I didn't, it still didn't feel right. I take it you must have felt somewhat the same? After all, she was your first kill."  
His words reminded me of something I had in one of my pockets. As soon as the thought struck me, I took it out. It was a dagger. It looked simple enough, something that any hunter would carry in their pocket. Small, but deadly.  
"You're thinking of that Cyberman?" Merlin asked, "He wasn't a man. Not anymore."  
I shook my head. While it was true that I stopped a Cyberman using that dagger, he wasn't the one I was thinking of. I was thinking of the first people I did actually kill. There were those who died while saving my life, there was one that I had to kill in self-defense, and there was one... one who gave me this dagger as a reminder. While I didn't kill her myself, she still died because of what I did. My eyes felt as though they were drowning, as I remembered what happened back then.  
"You have killed someone before?" Merlin asked, and the surprised tone was obvious in his voice.  
I could see the events of that time before my eyes, as if they were happening right now. I could still feel her last breath leaving her body as I held her in my arms, I could still hear that beeping noise that forced me to let go of her. That noise, which came from Quinn's machine, which I now held in my pocket again. Why did I have to pick it up? Why did I have to press the button and walk through that portal? Why didn't I stay with her? I was so shocked, I couldn't think anymore. I acted on impulse. An impulse that would not have been there if it wasn't for that machine. I stopped dead in my tracks, reached for Quinn's machine, took it out of my pocket, and raised it as high as I could.  
"What are you doing?" Merlin grabbed hold of my wrist, just before I could throw the machine down, "If Murphy can't make it back, this is our only way out of this world. Do you want that? Do you want us to be stuck here?"  
I couldn't care less. Maybe I should be stuck here. Maybe I should be casted out into this world. I couldn't face anyone back home. Not after what happened.  
"You do?" Merlin couldn't believe it, but he shook his head, "Well, what about us then? Do you think we don't want to see our home world again? Do you think that whatever happened to your world didn't happen to ours?"  
What was Merlin talking about? I was just taken away from my world. Did something worse happen to Merlin's? Or Saya's?  
"Aren't you being selfish now?" Merlin further asked.  
I breathed heavily as I still struggled against his grip on my wrist. But I realized he was right. If I destroyed the machine, I would only strand myself in this world, but these two as well. I'd be responsible for two more deaths. I couldn't do that. I relaxed, which Merlin must have felt, because he let go of my wrist soon after.  
"There." Saya sounded, as she pointed at something.  
We looked at her. While we were standing still, she had walked a little distance further. We ran to her, and only then could we see what she was pointing at. Behind the bushes, there was something hidden. Something that, judging from the growth of the grass and the bushes, as well as the amount of rust, had been there for quite some time. It was a car.  
"It's one of those horseless carriages of yours, isn't it?" Merlin asked.  
Instead of answering his question, Saya opened the car's trunk. Before the trunk had moved for a millimeter, a strong smell escaped it, forcing me to take five steps back. It was like meat that had been left out of the fridge for too long. Far too long. I pulled the neck of my T-shirt over my nose, hoping to keep that smell away, as I came closer to the trunk again. What I saw in there was worse than the smell. It was the remains of a man, who looked like he had died a long time ago. But even as I looked, it looked like he didn't just die. He looked like his skin was made of paper-maché, covering his skeleton.  
"Was that a man?" Merlin questioned, "It looks like someone drained the water out of him."  
Saya shook her head as she laid her hand on the body's neck. "Not water."  
As I wondered why she would place her hand there, I saw something on the man's neck. It looked like a large hole, as if he got wounded there. Saya's words, "not water", they started to echo inside my head. I was instantly reminded of something else. I slapped my own neck as I remembered. I had a similar wound there. Merlin looked at me, as he heard the slap I made. He slowly turned his head to Saya.  
"Saya?" he was careful with his words, "Is there something you want us to know?"  
Saya didn't say anything. I could see her tilt her head, as she reached out to pick up something else. When she had it in her hand, she retracted her arm. I looked at what she picked up. It looked like a large matchbox, but it had an antenna, and a number-pad. It took me a moment to recognize it, since it had been ages since I last saw one of those, but I knew exactly what it was.  
"What is that?" Merlin asked her.  
Saya turned to look at Merlin, "How should I know?"  
I raised my hand, motioning to her to give it to me. Saya gave it to me, then I demonstrated how it worked. I pretended to press some of the numbers then brought it to my face, where I moved my mouth, as if I could talk.  
"It's a telephone?" Saya asked.  
Merlin frowned, "What's a telephone?"  
"It's like a radio, but more advanced." Saya explained, "But they're usually not wireless. Are you sure that's a telephone?"  
I nodded. Saya must have been from a world where cell-phones didn't exist yet, while phones of this model already belonged to a museum where I was from.  
"How does that help us?" Merlin asked.  
"It answers your earlier question." Saya replied, "This isn't my world."  
I pressed the phone's green button, hoping to switch it on, but it didn't work. Its batteries died a long time ago. Too bad, I thought to myself, because this would mean that the moon was the only light that lit up this dark hill.  
That's when it hit me. That city I saw earlier, there was something wrong with it, but I couldn't figure out what it was. There were no lights on. None in the buildings, none on the streets. There was some noise that implied there were people there, driving their cars, but with no headlights on. The only reason I even knew there was a city there, was because the moon shone its light upon it. So what? These people could see in the dark? And come to think of it, were they even engines that I heard? As I thought about it, I realized that what I heard didn't really sound like cars at all. Of course, I was quite a distance away, but still... there were so many mysteries about this world, though Saya herself seemed to be the bigger mystery. She claimed this wasn't her world, but then why would this somehow be so familiar to her?


	3. Chapter 3

We continued down the road. Why Murphy didn't drop us off nearer to the city is anyone's guess. Though, it is possible he wanted to conserve the power to our ship, so he landed us where he could allow us. He didn't even want to turn on the invisibility cloak, at the risk that it would drain too much power. Considerate, I'd give him that, but it meant that we had to take a long walk. But when that thought hit, I noticed we were walking very slowly. I could be just me, but I had the feeling that we were slowing our pace. I looked at my two companions. Merlin was in deep thought about what he had just seen, and Saya was walking ahead of us. So Merlin and I were just following her, and if she slowed, instinctively Merlin and I would slow too. I started toward her, and when she was in arm's length from me, I reached to tap her shoulder. Before I had any idea of what was happening, I felt the asphalt road hit my back, and had Saya's sword up to my throat.  
"Saya, what are you doing?" Merlin asked, his voice trembling with panic.  
That look on Saya's face, it was the same one that Aslan had when he was ready to kill me. Why would Saya have that look on her face? She held that look for only two seconds, after which she let go of me, and got off me.  
"What's the matter with you?" Merlin asked her, "You've been uneasy every since we arrived."  
As I picked myself off the road, I saw Saya looking at Merlin, but making no effort at answering his question. Merlin was right, she had been uneasy. I would dare say that when she looked ready to kill me, that was only because she was expecting to see someone else. Or was she expecting some thing else?  
"It was a mistake for us to land here." Saya whispered, then turned to me. "M, can you create a portal before the timer runs out?"  
There was an idea I never thought of, pushing the button before the timer ran out. But should we? Murphy had it programmed in this very specific way, to take us to Artemis Fowl's world if he isn't back in twenty-four hours. So if we push the button before time runs out, it may not work at all, or not take us where want it to take us even if it did. Either way, I didn't want to risk it, so I shook my head.  
"Saya, what is going on." Merlin didn't ask this, he sounded like he demanded an explanation.  
Saya growled, but she gave in, "I caught a scent in that trunk. It's getting stronger."  
"Does that mean we're getting closer to whoever killed that man?" Merlin asked, "Well... good, right?"  
Saya shook her head.  
"I don't understand." Merlin said, "You've fought an army of Cybermen before. As well as Borg, Wraith, and many others."  
"Those were methodical and thinking beings." Saya replied, "Predictable. I can handle an entire planet of those people. But... if we are after what I think we are after, they are nothing like that."  
"They?"  
Saya took a deep breath, "As we're getting closer to the city, their scent becomes stronger. Too strong to be just one."  
The look that appeared on Merlin's face must have been the same as what I felt my face form.  
"All right." Merlin tried to keep his composure, but there was a tremble in his voice, "What are we talking about?"  
"Predators." Saya explained, "With teeth sharp enough to bite off your head, and claws strong enough to cut through concrete. They don't think as methodically as our enemies have so far, they just follow their instincts. Think that giant fly we saw, in the last world. He had the mind of a scientist, making him a thinking being. Take that away, and he'll be closer to what I'm sensing here."  
I remembered that. She could barely hold her own against that one. It was one huge monster, with more arms and more muscles. Most of our enemies were human-sized, or smaller, or even partly mechanical. Saya had an advantage over them. But she's saying that there was something in this world that is worse than this fly? And there was more than one? I could see why she felt so uneasy about that. If she could barely win against one of them, try an entire group of them.  
Merlin's eyes widened, and he shared whatever thought came to him, "Then this world has a lot worse to fear than Smith!"  
Saya shook her head, "No, they don't."  
This, Merlin didn't understand, "But you just said..."  
"I know what I just said." Saya interrupted him.  
Merlin's mouth hung open, as he was at a loss for words.  
"But you are right about one thing." Saya said, "If Smith did make it here, and he manages to convert these people, who knows what he'll be capable of."  
Saya finally put her sword away, and continued our walk, at a faster pace than before we stopped.  
"Do you understand this?" Merlin asked me.  
I just shrugged, as I had stopped trying to make sense of Saya a long time ago.


	4. Chapter 4

As we kept walking, the buildings I saw at a distance started to grow larger. The larger they became, the closer we got. The closer we got, the more jittery I felt. After Saya's revelation about there being something here that is worse than anything we have ever seen, I didn't feel right about being in this world at all. Neither did Merlin. I knew that his magic didn't work the same way in every world, so it was possible that he couldn't use it in this world either. So the fact that he hasn't even said anything that would cause his eyes to light up as they usually do, meant he was conserving his magic for when he needed it. Saya, meanwhile, seemed to shiver more visibly. So much so, I could hear her sword rattle inside her tube. Our usually fearless warrior suddenly became so afraid, I couldn't believe it. Nothing about the situation made me feel any better.  
"What do you think?" I heard Merlin ask me.  
I turned my head to listen, "We know we're headed for certain death, and yet we're going anyway. And I thought Arthur was foolish for acting that way."  
Arthur? Who was he talking about?  
"Oh right, you wouldn't know this." Merlin tried to laugh, "Arthur was our king, and I had the pleasure to serve him. Not a great pleasure, as I'm supposed to say, but a pleasure none the less."  
His talk almost made me forget that where we were heading. I could actually feel my face trying to form a smile, and I almost didn't mind the constant rattling of Saya's sword. A sound which, I then realized, had stopped. I looked in front of me. There was Saya, standing still, dead in her tracks. I stopped walking too, and Merlin followed suite.  
"What's wrong?" Merlin asked.  
Saya didn't say anything. Slowly, she turned her head. But to my surprise, she wasn't looking at Merlin, she was looking at me. I didn't say or do anything to get her attention, so why was she looking at me? As I thought about this, I saw her reaching for her tube. As soon as I wondered what she was up to, I heard something snap behind me. I didn't shiver this time. My body was already frozen.  
"GET DOWN!" Saya shouted, and I did as I was told.  
With face down on the ground, I couldn't see what Saya was doing. However, I did feel her step on my back as she charged toward what was behind me. I heard something cutting through flesh, followed by something splashing itself on my legs. I rolled around, trying to see what was going on.  
"What... is that?" Merlin asked as he too saw what Saya had just slain.  
I saw her small body, still holding her sword, which was still stuck inside the body of what looked like a tree-trunk. Except, what kind of tree-trunks has arms, with bat-like wings, red-glowing eyes, and blood oozing from where Saya stuck her blade?  
Saya pulled her sword out of this thing and turned back to us. The thing fell on its back, but Saya didn't look swayed by this. She was about to open her mouth, when I saw something else. Behind her, two red lights started to glow. Her own eyes widened, but at something that happened behind me. I sat up and turned my head. Somewhere in the shadows behind me, there were two red eyes. Within seconds there were two more. More kept lighting up, until we were surrounded. I heard Merlin whisper a few words. I didn't know what he was saying, but as he did so, clouds started to form above our heads. As I got to my feet, I could see Saya wiping the blood off her sword with her sleeve. In the corner of my eye, I saw something coming out of the shadows. I slowly turned my head, and saw something that looked like what Saya just killed, only smaller, and without the wings. Its glowing eyes dimmed, and it took small steps as he approached the three of us. I could hear Saya taking one step closer, just when this thing fell down to his knees and bent down, like he was bowing to us.  
"I am sorry he was unworthy!" it said, speaking with a voice that sounded strangely human.  
Merlin stopped mumbling his words, and the clouds above us started to disappear. Saya stopped her pace, as she too looked confused at this development.  
It wasn't done. "Please forgive us, your majesty!"


	5. Chapter 5

I looked at Saya. She had a new look on her face. I had never seen it before. Was it confusion? Must be it. Even though the words had only just been said and heard by all three of us, I could tell that none of us could believe it.  
Merlin repeated the words. "Your... majesty?"  
"We are ever so humbled by your presence." Somebody else spoke up.  
I turned to look. Behind us, there was a man. Most definitely a man, not some thing like the monsters we just saw.  
"But... please, tell us, why are you so commonly dressed?"  
Saya needed to think quickly before she could answer. "I... If I didn't, people would have spotted me too soon. You can never be too careful."  
"Of course, my lady." The man bowed as he replied. "And might I ask, did you bring these two humans to feed us?"  
My heart sped up as he said that. I looked at Merlin, who must have felt the same thing.  
"No," Saya replied. "These are... my pets. Lay a finger on them, and it will be last sensation you ever felt."  
Immediately, all others backed away. I had no idea who these people thought she was, but for these people to be so scared of her, even though there are more of them than there are of us, it made me wonder just how scary she can be?  
"If I am your majesty, that would mean that I have a palace somewhere?"  
Everyone nodded. They did not even ask why Saya would wonder if she had a palace.  
"Take us there," she ordered.  
"Sure! I will!" A short and heavy-weight man raised his hand above the crowd.  
"Forget it, Vince," somebody stopped him. "All you got is a truck. It's not worthy for a queen to ride."  
A queen? Is that what they think she is?  
"And even if it was, her palace is across the ocean," somebody else shouted. "Do you plan to drive her all the way there?"  
"He can always take me to the nearest airport." Saya suggested. "And besides, any car that is worthy of a queen would be too conspicuous. It makes it easier for my enemies to spot me."  
"A wise decision, as always," somebody said.  
"Well then... Vince. Take us to your truck."

The truck he was talking about was just an old pick-up truck. One that looked like it could fall apart any moment. Even as we were about to get on the truck, we had to convince the driver first that we wanted to sit on the loading part, not inside the truck. Since he thought of her as his queen, he did not ask any questions. Which is unlike Merlin, who started talking the moment the driver got in and started the engine.  
"Why do we have to sit here?"  
"Because here, we won't be overheard," Saya explained.  
As the engine was turned on, it did not just rumble, it roared.  
"I don't think we'll be able to hear each other," Merlin remarked.  
"Don't you have some trick for that?" Saya asked him.  
Either Merlin whispered his words, or he spoke normally but I couldn't hear it over the noise of the truck. Whatever it was, his words caused his eyes to lit up like fire, and I suddenly couldn't hear anything, except for what Merlin and Saya were talking about.  
"Will you now explain what is going on?"  
"It looks like I'm a queen in this world," Saya said.  
"But I thought this isn't your world," Merlin couldn't understand.  
"It isn't," Saya replied. "But these people don't know that. As far as they're concerned, I'm the queen of this world."  
Merlin shook his head. "I don't understand."  
"Merlin," Saya started. "We have visited many worlds so far. All of them have humans in some shape or form. Many of these worlds look a lot like the Earth that we are from. Many of the same technologies even seem to exist in each world. This world, even seems to have Chiropterans, like my own homeworld. Has it never occurred to you that maybe we exist in these other worlds too?  
Merlin frowned at that. "How can that be? How can we exist in another world as well?"  
"It's not you that exists in another world," Saya explained. "Someone who looks like you, thinks like you, may have the same thoughts as you, may even have magic like you. It's you, except that it isn't."  
This, in a way, started to make sense to me. Didn't Murphy mention something about another version of Mondas? Didn't Tanith mention other worlds that have Cylons?  
Merlin was rubbing his forehead, so Saya explained further. "Have you never wondered why so many people react surprised when you tell them your name's Merlin?"  
Merlin shrugged. "I just thought my reputation precedes me."  
Saya groaned. "Never mind. As long as these people think I'm their queen, they'll do exactly as I want them to. If Smith's army has arrived here, we'll have them backing my up for once."  
How long could it take us to get to this palace, I asked myself. I looked at the timer. It said we have 22:27:46 of time left before another portal opened. Could we make it there in time?


End file.
